Gang

Re "Cities in South County Unite to Subdue Gangs" (Oct 14): I commend Debbi Abalos for educating her neighbors in Laguna Hills as to the perils of graffiti and gangs. I also salute our community leadership for their efforts. Like Ms. Abalos, I have spent a few hours recently removing graffiti and educating neighbors. It appears the consensus among residents in Orange County is that gang activities in central Orange County are innate. The catch to this consensus is that gang activities and many other social problems native to urban areas are not bounded by municipal boundaries or social strata.

The federal mandate requiring youths to sign a statement that they have not been convicted of a serious crime linked to the riots before they can apply for a job excludes those most in need (June 27). As one who moves and works with Latino gangs on the streets, I can attest to the fact that those most active in gang activity are also those most desperate and who most frequently ask my help in finding a job. Excluding these youths from jobs will result in a more deeply felt sense of desperation.

While I appreciate The Times' concern about gang violence in Los Angeles, a concern most assuredly shared by the Los Angeles Police Commission, I am somewhat disturbed by the framework it chose to discuss this serious issue in its two articles (Jan. 19). Combatting gang violence requires the combined and cooperative efforts of all law enforcement personnel in Los Angeles. Each and every law enforcement agency in the area is constantly striving to achieve a solution to this problem, and utilizes a variety of strategies and approaches.

Re "Grieving father speaks of fears," March 5 Jamiel Shaw's parents did everything right to raise a beautiful son whose strong young hand was just about to grasp the knob on the door to his future. Thanks to some thug, neither Jamiel nor his parents will have the chance to celebrate what was on the other side of that door. With so much campaign talk burning the airwaves, I have yet to hear a candidate take a firm stand for gun control. I find that odd, especially in light of the many campus killings in the last year.

Two reputed leaders of a drug cartel that waged a years-long campaign of terror in Tijuana were arrested Monday in the Baja California port city of La Paz, according to U.S. authorities. Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental are believed to be top lieutenants of a gang blamed for a string of massacres, police killings, beheadings and kidnappings that has caused many residents to flee the border city. The arrests by Mexican federal police, coming a month after the capture of alleged cartel leader Teodoro Garcia Simental, are the latest blows against the gang.

NEW DELHI - The 23-year-old physiotherapy student was a woman with a dream. Her tuition paid from the sale of ancestral land, she studied hard, got good grades and was on track for a successful career. The horror of her brutal rape and subsequent death - after she and a 28-year-old male friend were assaulted last month by six attackers upon boarding what they assumed was a commuter bus - has sent shock waves across India. Over the weekend, another gang rape of a bus passenger, in the northern state of Punjab, was reported, along with the arrest of six suspects.

NEW DELHI - The alleged leader of a gang that brutally raped a woman in India three months ago, setting off massive protests, soul-searching and reforms, committed suicide in his cell early Monday by using fabric to fashion a noose, according to officials and local news media. Ram Singh was one of five adults and a juvenile charged with picking up a 23-year-old physiotherapy student and her male friend in a commuter bus in mid-December. Singh was the driver and "mastermind," police said.

December 29, 2012 | By Tanvi Sharma and Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times

NEW DELHI - Police charged six suspects in India with murder Saturday just hours after the victim of a gang rape died, in a case that has sparked violent demonstrations and spurred soul-searching over the nation's treatment of women. Fearful that the streets would erupt anew, officers in riot gear blocked major New Delhi roads, imposed restrictions on "illegal assembly" and shut subway stations as politicians appealed for calm, fearful of a repeat of last week's violent demonstration over the rape that saw police wield tear gas, water cannons and truncheons against an angry crowd.